Discovering butterflies
Author, naturalist and lifelong lepidopterist Matthew Oates beckons us into the beautiful world of butterfly-spotting
People love butterflies. That’s obvious from the frequency with which we see them in advertising, fashion and even body art. They are powerful symbols, not just of beauty and wonder, but of achievement, transformation, freedom and hope. We commonly see images of butterflies in schools, health centres and faith centres. They appeal to all ages and all cultures. They mean so much to us. They give us Wow! moments.
Metamorphosis: more than a mouthful
A butterfly is the product of an amazing journey, from tiny egg, through weeks of caterpillarhood and the traumas of pupation, to its beautiful adult form. But nothing beats a caterpillar for pure ambition. Scientifically, the butterfly is the reproductive and dispersal stage of a complex metamorphosis, but to them it’s party time. They really love life.
However, most of our butterfly species are only with us during relatively short flight seasons, flying in a single brood for five or six weeks. Several, though, have two or even three broods, throughout the spring and summer months. Most butterflies live only for a week or two, though six* British species spend the winter as hibernating adults, waking in spring to breed.
Big, bold and distinctive, the handsome red admiral is a good news species. Our winters used to be too cold for it, so it occurred here primarily as a summer migrant. But now it’s successfully wintering here in modern, milder winters and can be seen in any month of the year, though numbers are at their highest during August and September.
Collecting and photography
We’ve been obsessed with butterflies for centuries. They are one of the most popular parts of our wildlife. Butterfly collecting was a popular hobby into the 1970s, when it began to be replaced by butterfly photography, which is of course harmless. Collecting was once big in boys’ boarding schools. Famous boyhood collectors include Winston Churchill, who later pioneered butterfly gardening: the art of planting butterfly-friendly plants in our gardens.
Decline and conservation
Butterflies have declined massively during the last fifty years. Today, many people seldom see one – and not just city folk, for butterflies can be surprisingly scarce in intensely farmed countryside. Many of us only see butterflies on holidays or on visits to butterfly farms, and most of our scarcer species are restricted to special places, like nature reserves.
Official figures – for our butterfly populations are well monitored – indicate that 80% of our 59 resident and regular migrant species have declined since 1976. That’s scary, but it is tempered by the fact that some are increasing spectacularly, including several of our scarcer species. It’s not all doom and gloom by any means, and with a bit of effort – or tender loving care – we can give nearly all our butterflies the future they and we so richly deserve.
We have managed to reintroduce the large blue, one of five species that became extinct here during the last 150 years. A very pernickety creature, it’s now thriving in two areas of the West Country. Also, the chequered skipper is being brought back to England after half a century of absence. Where there is a will there is usually a way.
The main problem has been the destruction or neglect of the wilder places which butterflies inhabit: habitat loss. Worse, butterflies need to move around the landscape, colonising new places when the weather and habitat conditions permit, but we are generating too much inhospitable terrain for them to cross easily.
Climate change
Now, butterflies are having to adapt to climate change – which is why several species are moving north. There are winners and losers here, and a lot of ‘don’t knows’. The situation is complicated by the impact of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on butterfly foodplants (what the caterpillars eat). There are even very real concerns that the chemicals used in our dog and cat flea treatments are severely harming insects, including our precious pollinators – like butterflies and moths. All this is skewing conservation effort, just as we are getting to grips with what to do, when and where!
But butterflies are all about change, perpetual change. They are masters of change.
Most British butterflies are tiny, like the holly blue: a bright sapphire jewel that flits around bushes in April and May (first brood) and again between mid-July and late August (second brood), in both town and country. There’s even a sizeable colony in St James’s Park, London.
Butterfly identification
All the information you need to learn how to identify butterflies, and when and where to see them, is readily available online. A good starting point is the Butterfly Conservation website. Learn the easy species first, like the marbled white, orange tip and peacock, and upgrade when you’re ready.
The picture is slightly complicated by the fact that some moths fly by day (and some butterflies by night!). This only adds to the enjoyment, and fascination. Ultimately, the differences between them are technical and don’t really matter.
You’ll never stop learning. That’s part of the magic.
Matthew Oates is the author of (among many other things) The Butterfly Spotter’s Guide (National Trust Books, 2025), the ultimate beginner’s guide to our butterflies (plus some moths). This book provides all the necessary information to get you started. Once started, you won’t stop…
* The five commonly cited overwinterers are the comma, brimstone, small tortoiseshell and in recent years, the peacock (a migrant which is increasingly spending the winter here due to climate change). The sixth, the large tortoiseshell, is thought to have become extinct in the 1960s, though is still sporadically seen. That might be due to people rearing and releasing them into the wild, though it’s also possible that they could be recolonising these islands as the climate warms.
